中国电影行业的一位新秀表示，中国电影公司应向好莱坞学习宝贵的经验，而非从中寻找投资机会。
中国主要民营电影公司之一光线影业(Enlight Pictures)总裁张昭向英国《金融时报》表示，“中国电影行业肯定会朝着好莱坞的模式发展。”
“（但）我们首先应着眼于国内市场，而不是试图成为资本玩家。”
此番言论突显出中国电影行业正处在十字路口：既寻求挖掘快速增长的国内市场，也在探索打入国际市场的渠道。
近来盛传中国投资者可能有意入股本月刚申请破产保护的好莱坞电影公司米高梅(MGM)。针对这种说法，张昭作出了上述回应。
这些谣言并非空穴来风，而是有事实为依托：一是由于国内电影市场繁荣兴旺，中国电影行业充斥着大量资金；二是中国政府正推动本国电影行业“走出去”，在国际上弘扬中国文化。
据预计，今年中国电影票房收入将达到100亿元人民币（合15亿美元），到2015年将达到400亿元人民币，届时中国将成为全球第二大电影市场。
外国影片经常出现在中国最卖座影片之列，但为了发展本土电影行业并阻止不受欢迎的内容进入，中国政府限制在国内影院放映的外国影片数量。
光线影业是中国三大非国有电影公司之一，另外两家是去年在深圳上市的华谊兄弟传媒股份有限公司(Huayi Brothers Media Corporation)和刚刚申请在纳斯达克上市的博纳电影公司(Bona Film Group)。光线影业不公布财务信息，但该公司预计，今年其发行或合拍的电影的票房收入将达到7亿元人民币。
华谊兄弟的主业是影片制作，并向发行领域拓展，而博纳和光线影业都是从发行起步，然后延伸到影片制作领域。
张昭表示，这种业务模式旨在避免好莱坞所犯的错误。他表示，米高梅之所以经营失败，原因就在于该公司试图以影片制作为基础，建立一个电影帝国。
相反，光线影业与华谊兄弟和博纳更为相似，都把重点放在了有希望创造最大商业利益的项目上。
这三家公司都与境外合作伙伴合拍了许多影片，其合作伙伴主要来自香港。
光线影业最成功的影片包括《证人》(The Beast Stalker)和《阿童木》(Astroboy)，其中动作片《证人》名列2008年香港票房榜首，而《阿童木》是根据日本著名系列动画故事拍成的3D影片。
动作片、动画片和高科技影片仍将是光线影业的重点，该公司也认为这三类影片最有希望获得全球观众认同。
张昭表示：“在中国叫座的影片，像《阿凡达》(Avatar)和《2012》，都没有太多的文化背景。你就得卖在世界各地都有市场的影片。”
译者/杨远
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001035803
Chinese film companies should turn to Hollywood for valuable lessons rather than for investment opportunities, a rising star of the country’s movie industry says.
“China’s film industry will definitely develop towards the Hollywood model,” Zhang Zhao, president of Enlight Pictures, one of the country’s leading privately owned studios, told the Financial Times.
“[But] we should focus on our home market first, and not try being a capital player.”
The remarks highlight that China’s film industry is at a crossroads as it seeks to exploit its fast-growing home market but also explore ways to tap international markets.
Mr Zhang was responding to persistent rumours that Chinese investors might be interested in taking a stake in MGM, the Hollywood studio that filed for bankruptcy protection this month.
Such rumours are driven by the fact that China’s film industry is awash with money from a booming domestic movie market, and that the government is pushing for it to “go out” and propagate Chinese culture around the world.
China’s box-office receipts are forecast to reach Rmb10bn ($1.5bn) this year and to grow to Rmb40bn in 2015, which would make the country the world’s second-largest film market.
Foreign productions are frequently among the best-grossing films in China, but in an attempt to develop the local industry and to keep unwanted content out,
Beijing limits the number of foreign films that can be shown at China’s cinemas.
Enlight is one of China’s three largest non-state film companies, alongside Huayi Brothers Media Corporation, which listed in Shenzhen last year, and Bona Film Group, which has just filed for a Nasdaq listing. Enlight does not publish financial information, but the company expects box-office receipts of films it distributes or co-produced to reach Rmb700m this year.
While Huayi Brothers’ main business is film production, from which it has diversified into distribution, Bona and Enlight both started as distribution companies and branched out into film production later.
Mr Zhang said this business model was designed to avoid the mistakes made by Hollywood. He said the fact that MGM had failed was because it tried to build a movie empire based on film production.
Instead, Enlight, much like Huayi and Bona, is trying to focus on projects that promise the biggest commercial benefit.
All three companies have teamed up with non-mainland partners, mostly from Hong Kong, in many of their productions.
Among Enlight’s most prominent successes were The Beast Stalker, an action thriller that topped the Hong Kong box office in 2008, and Astroboy, the animated 3D movie based on a popular Japanese series.
Action, animation and technology-intensive films will continue to be the focus for Enlight as the company also considers them the most promising with a global audience.
“The films that do well in China, like Avatar and 2012, have not too much cultural background,” said Mr Zhang. “You have to sell things that work everywhere in the world.”
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